


Haunted Castle

by 80sGayTrashGoblin



Series: Champions of Voltron [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Lion Force (1984)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Mid-Canon, Pre-Voltron Lion Swap, Season/Series 01, Voltron Lion Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:26:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/80sGayTrashGoblin/pseuds/80sGayTrashGoblin
Summary: Sure, Hunk and Lance got to have friendly ghosts, that gave them recipes or played weird music in the ballrooms. Of course Pidge got stuck with the asshole ghost.The final straw was when she opened her laptop to do some work and the background was changed to a picture of mac n’ cheese captioned ‘oh yeah’ like a meme from the 2000s.
Series: Champions of Voltron [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2017747
Kudos: 14





	Haunted Castle

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the same 'verse as Ghosts of the Past, so if you wanna read the beginning notes first, and then come back here, that's probably a good idea. 
> 
> Long story short, the pilots from the 'Defenders of the Universe' continuation of Voltron are the spirits currently in the 'Legendary Defender' continuity lions.

Lance did not believe in ghosts. No matter what Hunk would say, he did not believe in ghosts. There were no dead people still hanging around, no spirits of the dead, no spectres. None of it. So there must be an entirely logical reason for the piano in the castle ballroom playing on its own. 

It’s a very nice melody. It almost reminded Lance of the sea, of tidal waves sweeping onto the beach, bringing treasures. But it had a haunting undertone, a reminder of the power of the sea, how many sailors have drowned and perished to the stormy waves. Peace and lethalness, a fitting juxtaposition. 

It was very alien. No normal, earth piece of music can make Lance picture the sea as clearly as he does. And the piano was playing itself. That was also weird. 

Lance didn’t believe in ghosts. So there must be some mechanism that allowed the piano to play a weirdly haunting tune that reminded him of the sea. That’s gotta be it. He’ll ask Allura about it later. 

“Hey, Allura, can altean pianos play themselves?” 

“No, why?” 

“Umm… No reason.” 

* * *

Hunk hummed under his breath, cleaning down the counter to get started on lunch. Afterwards, he was going to go with Lance to investigate an apparently haunted piano, but that can wait until everyone’s eaten. 

Although Pidge has been complaining about the fact that all the lunches he’s been making have either unseasoned meat or no meat at all. While Hunk is an aspiring culinary master, his strength is in baking. He could whip up the best brownies and pies that could wow Gordan Ramsey, but his meat game is… lackluster. 

He paused in wiping down the counter, pulled out of his head when his hand brushed something. A piece of paper. Written in english, not altean badly translated into english, but english. 

_‘Fried Chicken: Tsuyoshi Family Recipe. Chicken can be replaced with Tenebricosa Parakeet (Krell), Sordida (Senfama) or Hemignathus (Altea) with no recipe changes.’_

Hunk skimmed through the rest of the recipe. It looked solid, with the directions to make the super special sauce and all the ingredient replacements needed to make it work if you happened to be off of Earth. 

Maybe Lance was onto something about that whole ghost thing. But he wouldn’t complain as long as the ghost continued to bring him good recipes. 

“Hunk, this is delicious! How did you make it?” 

“Oh, I got the recipe from a ghost.” 

“From a WHAT?!” 

* * *

Sure, Hunk and Lance got to have friendly ghosts, that gave them recipes or played weird music in the ballrooms. Of course Pidge got stuck with the asshole ghost. 

Things she set down were constantly being moved. Flash drives (she’s old fashioned) would be set down and mysteriously disappear before reappearing in a drawer it’s not supposed to be in. Her laptop’s password keeps changing. The language translator chip in her bayard keeps going haywire and turning altean from russian to ancient greek to olkarian. Any time she sets down a bowl of chips that she intended to eat, when she turns around, they’re all gone. 

The final straw was when she opened her laptop to do some work and the background was changed to a picture of mac n’ cheese captioned ‘oh yeah’ like a meme from the 2000s. 

“Alright, listen up, whoever’s been fucking with my stuff!” Pidge shouted, standing up and turning to the empty lion hangar. “I’m sick and tired of it! I know you’re not fucking with anyone else, so go bother someone else! Hell, Lance has been trying to poke around my room, mess with him for a change!” 

She took some time to breathe in, letting the anger out. The air felt lighter somehow. The presence that she felt hanging around her room or the lion hangar was gone. Maybe that ghost had actually listened to her. 

She had a feeling her stuff won’t be messed with for a long time. 

“Hey, Pidge! Did you dump my beauty creams into the pool?!”

“No, Lance. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

* * *

Keith hadn’t noticed it before, but with all the talk of ghosts in the castle, he does now. 

It was the little things: the way his knife and bayard are always polished, along with the others’ bayards. The way the armor is always cleaned and washed, ready for the next training session or mission. The way there are always small snacks in the kitchen, made in various Earth cuisines, from cuban to german to japanese, that weren’t made by Hunk. The way the training bots sometimes had parts of their bodies glowing more than usual, almost as if whatever ghost was training them to hit certain weak points. 

And then there was the way that there was always a glass of water nearby. If he was just finished training, or swimming, or talking to Shiro, there would be a glass of water for him to drink. The ghost was really bent on taking care of everyone, keeping everyone safe, in a subtle way. 

It was nice. 

He wasn’t like the others, he didn’t want to know who or where the ghosts came from. He was curious, of course, but he was content knowing that the ghosts were ultimately helping them, even if the ghosts messed with them sometimes. 

With the war they’re fighting, they need all the help they can get. 

“Hey, Red, I don’t suppose you know who these ghosts are, do you?” 

…

“Yeah, I thought so.” 

* * *

Shiro didn’t know who or what these ghosts are, but he’s about to get on his knees and thank them for the endless amount of coffee and tea they bring him. 

In the morning, there’s always a cup of coffee waiting for him. After training sessions or missions, there’s always a flask of water waiting for him. In the evening, there’s always a mug of tea waiting for him. It was always his favorite tea too, chamomile, which he’s not going to question anymore how the magic space ghosts got Earth tea. 

It wasn’t just coffee and tea that the ghosts brought him either. His room would always stay tidy, despite the fact that he was a mess. Whenever he fell asleep reading, his place would always be saved on the datapad. On the not-so-rare occasions that he would fall asleep working at a desk or in his paladin chair, a blanket would cover his shoulders. 

It was nice, having a little guardian angel making sure he was okay. The homemade pocky sticks that were surprisingly close to the real thing were nice too (he has a sweet tooth, okay). 

He let his tea steep a little more, sitting in the lounge with the rest of the team. They had decided to have movie nights, which currently involved the really bad altean soaps that were saved in the castle library. While the movie was loading, the rest of the paladins were currently embroiled in fierce debate about the ghosts. 

“I’m pretty sure it’s multiple ghosts,” Pidge said. “Because at first, the ghosts were nothing but friendly to you all, but fucked with me. And then when I finally yelled at it, the ghost stopped bothering me and pranking the rest of you instead.” 

“Well, at the very least, one of the ghost’s last names is Tsuyoshi,” Hunk said, pulling out one of the recipes. “All the recipes I’ve been getting are from the Tsuyoshi family recipes.” 

“One of them has got to be altean,” Lance said. “I looked up the song that the ghost in the ballroom was playing, and the songs they were playing were all traditional altean songs.” 

“But why are the rest of them human?” Keith asked. “Japanese recipes, various snacks from Earth culture, chamomile tea and coffee. Those are all things from Earth.” 

“Look at the recipes,” Lance said. “They all have alien replacements if you can’t get the Earth ingredients, so the ghost humans have got to be familiar with the wider galaxy.” 

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Pidge said. “The Kerberos mission is supposed to be the first contact between humans and aliens.” 

“What are you young whippersnappers talking about?” Coran slid on in, taking a seat nearby the huddle of teenagers. 

“The ghosts in the castle!” Lance said. 

“The ghosts in the castle?” 

Pidge turned around her laptop, where a list of various incidents and strange events were documented in way too much detail were on screen. Hunk also passed him one of the recipes he got. 

“Interesting,” Coran said, stroking his mustache. “That does remind me of when Alfor had finished building the lions.” 

“Have you seen anything like this?” Hunk asked. “Are there really ghosts in the castle? Other than Alfor’s AI?” 

“My boy, you four are not the first people to speculate about ghosts haunting the castle.” Coran leaned back, as if he’s preparing to tell a story. “There were many strange events that happened after King Alfor completed the lions. The armor and bayards of the paladins were always cleaned and washed, things were constantly being moved around that shouldn’t have moved on it’s own, rooms and spaces were tidied up on their own. Everyone knew they were spirits, but no one knew what kind or who they were. But of course, King Alfor had a theory, an experiment, and an answer.” 

“What was the theory?” Pidge asked, eyes wide open. 

Coran grinned. “The strange activity only started happening after the lions were complete. Alfor’s theory was that the spirits of the lions were actually leaving for a time, to roam the castle, and then return back to the lions.”

“But how?!” Hunk exclaimed. 

“No one knows, but the one thing we do know is that Alfor did confirm his theory. There are five ghosts that roam the castle, the spirits of the lions, and they each have their own personalities. Unfortunately, Voltron was disbanded before he could learn more about them, but it seems the spirits have started to attach themselves to you five like they did the previous paladins.” 

“So the ghost playing ancient altean songs on the piano is Blue?” Lance asked. 

“And the ghost giving me japanese recipes is Yellow?” Hunk asked. 

“And the ghost who was pranking everyone is Green?” Pidge asked. 

“And the ghost who has been cleaning everyone’s armor and bayards is Red?” Keith asked. 

Coran nodded. “And the ghost who has been bringing Shiro chamomile tea is Black.”

The five of them all looked at each other. “You paladins have an unprecedented opportunity, you know,” Coran spoke up again. “To learn more about these ancient spirits, from a comet made in a different universe. I can bring you all of Alfor’s logs of the spirits, and you will be able to learn more.” 

“Yes!” Pidge jumped up, her eyes practically sparkling. 

“The spirits of the lions have attached themselves to us, huh?” Shiro muttered aloud to himself, taking another sip of tea as the younger paladins followed Coran to the library. “This makes things a lot more interesting.” 


End file.
